US academics Robert Hall and Michael Woodford have won the 2026 Nobel economics prize “for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation”, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday, according to Hiru News, which carried a Reuters report of the announcement.
The award is formally the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, and is worth 12 million Swedish crowns — about US$1.2 million. It is the last of this year’s prizes to be announced.
What the work does
The academy said the two laureates developed macroeconomic models that improved the ability to implement effective stabilisation policy, allowing fiscal and monetary measures to be timed so they reduce the intensity of damaging swings in the economy.
“The laureates’ work has provided us with a stable theoretical foundation for the models that are now used by central banks and governments around the world,” said John Hassler, chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.
“With them, we are better equipped to deal with shocks in the economy, such as energy crises or sudden changes in how much households consume.”
The prize itself
The economics prize was first awarded in 1969. It is not one of the five original awards created in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will, having been established later and endowed by Sweden’s central bank.
Most previous laureates have been from the United States. Only three women have ever won it, most recently Claudia Goldin in 2023, for work on how gender has affected pay and employment over time in the United States.
Last year’s prize went to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for work on “creative destruction” and how new technology and production methods can raise growth and living standards.
Analysis published before the announcement by the Institute for Scientific Information, part of Clarivate, had identified researchers working on monetary policy, the economics of information technology and evolutionary economic theory as possible recipients.
Sourcing note
This report rests on a single verified source. Hiru News carried the announcement as a Reuters wire report; Reuters’ own site is not reachable for citation from this desk. No other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had filed on the announcement at the time of writing — the Daily Mirror’s international section, NewsFirst and Daily FT all showed nothing, and a verified-domain search returned only earlier editions of the prize (2021, 2023 and 2025), none of them this year’s.
The citation wording above is reproduced as the academy issued it, including its own phrasing.
Not reported
The filing does not give the laureates’ institutional affiliations, their ages, or whether the prize is split equally between them. It does not say when the award ceremony will be held, and carries no reaction from either laureate.
Source: Hiru News.
